When Lahore and Delhi choke under the same winter smog and their northern mountains groan under cloudbursts, the border briefly disappears, only for politics to draw it again the next day. In 2025, this reality became painfully clear. Record rains and landslides killed hundreds in both India and Pakistan, breaking rainfall records and sweeping away homes and roads. Glacial lake bursts in Uttarakhand and Gilgit-Baltistan destroyed villages and bridges. Soon after, fierce windstorms followed across both countries which killed more people and damaged homes, while rivers swelled and flood warnings crossed borders. These are not separate events. They are part of one connected system that is growing more dangerous as the planet warms.

Much has already been written urging India-Pakistan cooperation on these shared risks: air quality, floods, droughts and glacier melt. Analysts have spelled out practical entry points from joint smog abatement to data-sharing and even sketched out the institutional pairs that could........

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